The Final Girl Theory

The Final Girl

The final girl is a trope in horror films. The simplest definition of the final girl is the last character left alive to confront the killer in a movie of the Slasher genre. The character in question tends to follow a certain set of characteristics. The final girl theory first became popular with such horror films as alien, Halloween, and Texas chainsaw massacre in which the only characters to make it to the end and live where females. Throughout the course of these films the other characters are picked off one-by-one by the killer, often due to the characters doing something stupid or not being strong enough to confront the killer.

Characteristics of the Final Girl

 The character is almost always female. Especially in older works, she'll also remain fully clothed, be a virgin avoiding death by sex and probably won’t smoke, drink alcohol or do drugs either. In other words she would be the most innocent and disciplined of all the characters, caring about her education the most. She also tends to have a specific talent or skill that ultimately assists her to defeat the killer (often developed by the end of the film). Finally, she'll probably turn out to be more intelligent and resourceful than the other victims, occasionally evolving into an action girl by the movie's end. The character seems to be the living embodiment of stereotypical conservative attitudes of what women "should be".

Stereotypes of the Female Character

The final girl theory could also represent some sort of real life issue since with most of these films the killer is a man and the final girl is female, this principle/concept could represent overcoming male oppression since males are often seen as strong more dominant beings than female. The character of the final girl also plays against the expectations of the male audience since, not only is she head strong, brave and masculine, but also this type of character compared to the other females sometimes doesn't meet the male gaze.